


Wonderwall

by starlinks



Series: Wonderwall [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, God!Percy, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2038467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlinks/pseuds/starlinks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Annabeth's runaway plan failed, she met Perseus, the gorgeous boy who just transferred to Goode. But as miraculous things happen that didn't quite add up to Percy's favor, Annabeth started doubting her more-than-friend friend. Perhaps he was a little bit too godly to be a human, perhaps he was not who he said he was... AU God!Percy, high school fic. Percabeth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"The lonely become either thoughtful or empty."

~Mason Cooley

* * *

 

**Wonderwall**

**Chapter One: Project Runaway**

Thinking back, I have just realized that running away probably was not the best idea I could have come up with. I mean, aside from from two suitcases of clothes and necessities, I have absolutely nothing with me-not even an adequate amount of money so that I could stay somewhere for the night. For a self-proclaimed genius, what I did in a rash moment of decision was pretty dumb.

Well, what could I do? In my defense, the idea seemed like a pretty plausible one at the moment. I had everything packed. I had the route planned, and I booked the flights. I forged my papers so I can pretend to be eighteen and live alone by myself for the rest of the days.

Anyway, I suppose I should explain how I ended on the beach, stranded and alone. I could either choose to endure the humiliation and go back home quietly, or I could continue to stay here and pretend that something would actually come out of this strange thinking session.

I stayed. It's not like I would get in trouble for staying out here a little longer, really. My father, Dr. Fredrick Chase, is on yet another trip, this time to the British Museum for some history stuff again. My step-mother, however, would definitely still be on the stopping trip with her friend(s) in New York City. So that would leave me, Annabeth No-Foresight Chase, in the house alone, on the day before school starts for my junior year. So much for my grand plan.

It was not my fault, really. How would I know beforehand that something just had to happen to the airplane and my flight would be cancelled? And how would I know that my credit card (linked to my father's unfortunately, as I am a minor) would expire around December? Even though I am stupid, incredibly so at the moment, I still knew that it would be futile for me to runaway so dangerously low on money. I would not survive till the end of the year with that amount.

So of course, being the emotionally unstable and slightly insane sixteen year old girl, I took a cab all the way to the beach. I dismissed the taxi driver, although he insisted that he could wait for "whatever business I must attend to".

The truth is, I am just tired. Tired of life, tired of my negligent parents who never seemed to understand that money could not make me happy, tired of the ordeal with Luke and just about everything else. I just wanted to escape it all-could you really blame me for that?

A sea breeze blew by me and I sighed tiredly as it caressed my hair, throwing the curls into the wind. I have always liked the coast, and if anything, that was the one thing I was going to miss if I actually boarded the flight.

I guess in some way, it was trying to recompense for my foiled plan.

The sparkling blue waves lapped against the sandy beach, and I smiled softly at the beautiful scenery. After dropping my luggage next to a protruding rock, I climbed on top of it and closed my eyes, imagining myself in another life, living in another universe which everything was much less complicated.

The breeze pushed my bangs from my eyes and I enjoyed the salty sea breeze. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot like you would expect in the middle of August, but just enough that the wind felt nice against my skin. Perhaps I can still deal with staying here-at least my best friend Katie Gardner would be pleased. I haven't told anyone about my plan, but I think she knew. She knew me too well.

"Why are you sitting on my rock?" A voice rang out behind me, and I frowned a little. Still looking out at the sea, I replied in a rather unhappy voice, "Your rock? Sorry, didn't see your name on it." I was not ready to deal with anyone yet.

The owner of the voice was silent for a few seconds before he renewed with vigor, "Well, actually, I beg to differ. Check where you're sitting on."

Hesitantly, I shifted a little bit to my right, still not looking at the stranger. No use identifying who was the annoying little prick that disturbed my peaceful thoughts.  
"Per-cy." I read. The name was carved in the stone neatly in a beautiful, Roman-like font. "What kind of name is that?"

"My name. It's short for Perseus." The boy replied as I finally looked back at him for the first time.

Truth to be told, the guy was very good looking, with his unruly dark hair and cerulean eyes. They held so much depth in them, and I felt like I could drown in them any second.

No. I told myself. After what happened to Luke, I shouldn't even think about drooling over boys. They were not worth my time and effort, and I should definitely save myself from unnecessary heartbreak and heartache... For once, I agreed with my dad. I should focus on my academics instead, there's plenty of time for boyfriends after I am admitted to a good college.

But if the guy (sixteen, seventeen? I wasn't sure) can pull of a plain black t-shirt and those pairs of ugly baggy jeans effortlessly, than that's saying something. His lips quirked up a little as if he were amused, and immediately, I realized that I was staring openly at him.

I cleared my throat and immediately pulled up an expression of indifference. "What kind of name is that? What are you, Perseus the Greek Hero?"

His eyebrows arched a little, and said, "Who do you think he was named after?"

I rolled my eyes at him, who did he think he is? I would have punched him playfully, but I needed to keep a hand on my luggage, and I didn't know him well enough to exhibit my 'less-than-ideal behaviors'. "Woah. If your head is gonna get any bigger, it would definitely burst into pieces."

"Well, at least I know someone who's gonna miss my handsome face." He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at me and giving me a cheesy grin. It would have melted my heart if I were just one of those cheerleaders in my high school, but his attitude simply served to infuriate me.

"Are you flirting at me? Because if you were, you better wish you have a pair of wings so you can get the heck out of here."

"From you? No way."

"Are you implying that I'm weak?" I asked indignantly, fists raised. I would like to think that I can defend myself perfectly well, after all, I am a second degree black belt. It was a sort of compromise I made with my father so that he would buy me the architecture books that I had wanted. Although I hated those self-defense lessons when I was younger, my father insisted upon them and sometimes I would be secretly glad that he did.

"Oooh, feisty and violent, just like Athena." He muttered, rolling his eyes at me.

"Just like whom?" I inquired.

"Athena, my cousin." He said, shaking his head and running a spare hand through the black locks. "Doesn't matter, you won't know her."

A block of silence then followed. It was quite awkward, truthfully. Me, standing on the turf with my suitcases looking like a desperate hobo, and him, just standing there and messing his hair every so often, eyes glancing at the sea every once in a while.

I cleared my throat. "Um, okay. I think I should go now. You know, school starts tomorrow and stuff and yeah... I should stop bothering you now."  
He nodded without saying anything.

I sighed, then I turned back and grabbed my suitcase, prepared to drag it through the sandy beach. How am I ever going to get a cab? Practically no one comes to this desolate area-especially these few days since it was surprisingly cold. I shook my head. Maybe I can just take the subway-the one good thing about living in New York was how convenient going anywhere in the city was.

Just when I was about to step away, the boy, Percy, called out, "Hey, um, which high school do you go to?"

I shot him a weird look, "Goode High, why?" It was probably not the smartest idea to give a stranger my school's name, either. But what could he do? After all, he was just a normal, arrogant, teenage boy in New York.

"Nothing, I'm just asking." His eyes glittered with mischief.

"Sure..." I hesitated before asking, "How about you?"

"You'll see." He said, and I turned away to prevent my suitcase from falling into the sand.

"Sure," I replied, "As long as you don't stalk me or-" I turned back to face him, but he was already gone.

All that left was a few imprints from his shoes on the sand.

**The story gets better, I promise. I have about 50k of it typed out already so updates should be very regular, thanks. Follow me on tumblr (url: starlinks) for more info!**


	2. The Transfer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Annabeth finally goes back to school, there's a curious new student that just enrolled in her grade. Of course, it's the one and only Perseus.

You're hiding regret in your smile

There's a storm in your eyes I've seen coming for awhile

Hold on to the past tense tonight

Don't say a word,

I'm OK with the quiet.

The truth is gonna change everything.

~ _Lie_  by David Cook

* * *

 

**Wonderwall**

**Chapter 2: The Transfer**

"Annabeth!" A voice called out in the hallway as people shuffled around on the first day of school, chatting away. I didn't even have time to turn around and acknowledge my best friend before she engulfed me in a giant hug.

"Katie!" I exclaimed, turning around and smiling a little as I fixed her blonde curls. "We literally just saw each other last week! Why so excited?" I asked as they walked to their row of locker. Katie's usually an easily excitable person, but she didn't need to tackle me in the middle of the hallway.

"Well, I was just worried, 'cause I thought..."  _You might have ran away without telling me first_  went unsaid, but I understood. she stopped and shook her head. "Doesn't matter, I'm just glad you're here." She opened her locker, and bit her lip. I felt guilty, worrying her like that for a week, but at the same time, she doesn't understand the evils of a stepmother.

Sure, her parents were divorced, (and she never met her mom before, like me), but her father treated her a lot better than mine did. A selfish part of me thought that if my dad never got married to that woman, then perhaps I would be more important in his eyes...

"Annie, you there?" Katie asked as she waved her hands in front of me.

"Don't call me that!" I protested. I hate nick names with a passion.

"Fine, jeez. Aren't you a grumpy face today." She pouted a little, then handed me a slip of paper. I took it and glanced at it, it's a schedule-but not mine. On the top of it, it says, "Jackson, Perseus-11".

I frowned, "are you sure that's what you're suppose to give me? It's not mine."  _That name seems oddly familiar though_ , I added silently.

"Yeah, girl, don't tell me you forget your student council duties?" She said, putting her Calculus books into her bag. We are one of the only juniors in the calculus class because we were both pretty math-orientated, especially with the symbols and their meanings. The Greek alphabets and variables just made sense. Subjects like English, Literature, and History, however, were challenging to both me and Katie because of our mild case of dyslexia.

"No, I don't think I missed out anything. Blood Drive's in a month and our next fundraiser is in a week, why?" I asked, mentally running through my list of student council duties.

"The New Student Luncheon! Right, you missed that three days ago." Katie commented, deciding not to push why I'd miss that. In reality, I was plotting and planning my runaway the entire time, only to be foiled by a delayed flight in the end. I supposed that I should be grateful for that-I hadn't realized how much I would have missed Katie until now.

"Well, each of the student council's members is supposed to be responsible for a new kid or two, and since I'm the head of the committee, I'm just handing out the schedules." Katie continued, giving me a pointed look. Oops. I was probably the only one not there, since Katie's not handing anyone else schedules.

"Well, thanks for handing this to me. Sorry for not being there." I said guiltily.

"That's alright," Katie said, picking up her backpack while walking with me to the calculus classroom on the third floor, "I wasn't even going to assign you one at first, best friends benefits and all, but then the kid just registered yesterday and I needed someone to take him around. Since you have the most similar schedule as he does, I thought it would just be convenient for everyone and-"

I stopped Katie. "Dude, chill. I'm fine with this, really. You don't have to explain anything."

She breathed a sigh of relief, then she smiled secretly to me and leaned closer to whisper in my ear. "I heard he's pretty hot, maybe you should hook up with him." I could hear the smirk in her voice.

"What?!" I exclaimed as several other students turned to look at me.

"Shhhh!" Katie said, "not so loud! All I heard were some rumors from other members working with the registers and ID makers, that's all! I'm just joking, jeez." She elaborated, still making suggestive looks at me.

It was quite ironic, actually. I was the one with a boyfriend last year, trying hopelessly to matchmake Katie with somebody. But she just wasn't that kind of girl-she wanted to wait for her magical meeting. Like, the kind that you only find in fictions and fairytales. I couldn't challenge her on that.

"Well, your joke's not funny." I promptly informed her. "No matter how 'hot' he is, I won't 'hook up' with him, as you so delicately put. I'm not that kind of person, I don't have time for boys. Not after Luke. I can date in college, later."  _Luke... You still miss him._ A part of my brain accused.  _Shut up._  I told that part of me. It wouldn't matter now. He's gone. Even if he managed to come back, somehow, I would never talk to that traitor again. Not after how much he had hurt me. In fact, I would rather not think about him right now.

"Oh dear, you poor antisocial child, live a little! How bad could it be!" She commented as we both sat in the classroom. The teacher's not here yet, so we just go ahead and picked the two seats in the back.

"He might be like Luke." I said, and that efficiently shut Katie up... For about three minutes.

"Annabeth," she said softly, "Not everyone is like that. You just have to open your eyes and see how he will be. I'm sure that he would be better." Katie knew that she had touched a sore spot.

I shook my head slowly. "I'm not so sure about that."

"I know that Luke hurt you bad, but Will, Tracey, and I are forever going to be here for you, alright? I promise." Katie said, looking at me carefully. I knew that she would have my back. We have been friends since grade school.

As the class settled, I heard more girls commenting on this boy, Percy Jackson's, looks. While I might be more interested at this once upon a time, I didn't care about it much now. It had little meaning for me.

I sighed and thought back to what Katie said. Possibly a new beginning. A new chance.  _You'll see, Katie,_ I said silently in my head,  _it takes a lot more than a pretty face to win my heart._

**So, AU universe where Katie G. and Annabeth C. are BFFs because it's too dangerous for Thalia to be outside the CHB boundary. Percy has no trouble doing academically challenged things because, well, he's not just a mortal. (Oops, spoilers.)**

**Please give me a** **_thoughtful comment_ ** **for a faster chapter!**


	3. Calc-kill-us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy meets Annabeth and Katie in Calculus class.

"It's hard to believe in coincidence, but it's even harder to believe in anything else."  
― John Green,  _Will Grayson, Will Grayson_

* * *

**Wonderwall**

**Chapter 3: Calc-kill-us**

"Alright class, my name is Mrs. Hufford, and I am going to be your Calculus teacher this year. I'm passing out all the books right now, so put your name on the inside of the front cover and tell me your name and the book number." The lady at the front of the classroom said as she passed out some Larson Calculus 9th edition books back row by row.

"So this is the ol' 'Huff Dog' the seniors told us about last year, huh?" Katie whispered to me quietly as I bit back a grin-I am pretty ambivalent towards the new Math teacher, but I've heard endless complaints and some pretty ridiculous rumors about her during my previous years at school.

"Now, be respectful," I told Katie half-heartedly, "maybe she wouldn't be too bad." I'll admit, I do have a tendency to be some math and sciences teachers' pets.

Katie scoffed. "Or maybe she'll eat us up alive. Who knows? Maybe she'll be another Mrs. Dodds." I physically winced at the memory of my eighth grade Algebra teacher. There was always this annoying kleptomaniac called Nancy Bobofit in my grade back then, (who got kicked out later) and whenever she got in trouble with the school board, Mrs. Dodds would always pin it on me. Luckily, I didn't get kicked out of the academy, (it was my last year there anyway) and Mrs. Dodds somehow disappeared halfway through the year and was never heard of again.

"I don't think anyone can possibly be eviler than that woman. Dodds was so vile I was 70% percent sure she wasn't even human-"

I didn't get to finish when Mrs. Hufford called me up, "Miss Chase, is there a problem?"

I looked up suddenly as I was caught talking. Dang it, I wanted to leave a decent enough first impression... "No, no... Madame. Everything is fine." I stuttered a little, biting my lip. I was suddenly aware of that fact that everyone was looking at me, and I was slowing turning red like a tomato. I glanced back at the teacher and she was still looking expectantly at me.

"What?" I said, looking around, as if I were missing something.

"Your book number, please, Miss Chase," Mrs. Hufford said and sighed exasperatedly, as I fumbled around to give her a number. "My book's number forty-two, sorry, I-"

And fortunately enough, I was saved by someone's rapid knocking on the wood door. The action piqued everyone's interest as they finally stopped looking at me. I slumped a little into my seat, still reeling with embarrassment. That's the downside of having a last name that starts with a letter relatively early in the alphabet-you'll always be called first.

Mrs. Hufford went to open the door, but I was still too busy fretting over the past event. What if she hates me now? I can't afford for her to hate me, Calculus is an important enough math class and I would need her recommendation letter for college!

I vaguely heard Mrs. Hufford to tell whoever by the door to give her his/her name and introduce his/herself, and Katie sighing dreamily off to the side. But then, a rough shake from Katie was enough to bring me back to reality.

"What?" I hissed harshly, annoyed that she interrupted my thoughts. I was in enough trouble as it was.

"Dude, stop being grumpy, remember the boy I told you about?"

"What boy?"

"The one that you were suppose to show around?"

"Oh, that boy." Stupid student council duties.

"Yeah. Well, aren't you one lucky girl!"

I was about to ask why when Katie simply pointed to the front of the room. I stared. "But he's he's-!" I exclaimed rather loudly, but the chatter from the rest of the room covered it up either way.

"But he's totally hot? I know." Katie said, sighing. I could hear some of the similar comments ringing up everywhere, but since it was a Calculus classroom, half of us don't have much of a life anyway.

The boy, with his black hair and sea-green eyes, was the very same one that I saw on the beach three days back. There he was, standing in front of the classroom awkwardly with the backpack hanging off one of his shoulders. He ran one of his hands through his hair as Mrs. Hufford coughed to grab our attention. "Now class, be quiet and let Mr. Jackson speak."

All the eyes swerved over and focused on the boy. He cowered a little under our collective gaze- _doesn't look so confident now that he's under the spotlight now, huh?_  I could have sworn that he smirked at me when I had the thought.

"My name's Perseus Jackson." He started, "You can call me 'Percy'. I just moved here with my dad recently. Goode's the closest to my house, so, I guess, here I am?" He shrugged, looking at Mrs. Hufford for further guidance. I could hear the senior girls commenting how cute he was, but I was adamant not to repeat another incident like the one I had with Luke ever again. It was... A long story.

"You can sit in any of the available spots, Mr. Jackson." Mrs. Hufford said, as he looked around and focused on me. Great, I should have known-since the class is more or less filled with nerds like me,(who all usually sits in the front rows) the only available spots are the two seats in the last row, one next to mine and another next to Katie.

He strolled over casually and slumped into the chair next to me. Satisfied, Mrs. Hufford turned to the SmartBoard and started the lesson, something about reviewing Pre-calculus and limits.

"So, we meet again, huh?" Percy commented. I tried to focus on the board and opened up a blank page on my notebook to jot down the notes, ignoring him on purpose, putting on an act so I don't have to talk to him. Admittedly, I was intrigued, mainly by the way he showed up and disappeared three days ago, but I couldn't forget how annoying he was with that knowing and flirty smirk of his.

"You guys met before?" Katie asked incredulously, looking between the both of us. "Why haven't you told me?" She asked me accusedly. I shot her a 'not now' look and continued on and pretended to 'focus' on the lesson plans.

"Yeah, she hasn't told you about me? I'm afraid that I haven't made a very good impression." Percy said, thinking a little. "Last time I checked, you had your suitcases with you and you were-"

I put down my pen all the sudden and glared all I could at Perseus. If looks could kill, he would have been a pile of ash at my feet by now. "Not another word." I also shot a warning glare at Katie, daring her to ask more about the details. She gave me a sad look but didn't press on.

Percy raised an eyebrow at me, as if he was surprised that I haven't told my best friends yet. Who was he to judge? I just met him for a grand total of five minutes (plus about ten minutes on the beach, but that's negligible) and now he's butting in on my life?

"Geez, I'm just asking. Don't have to be hostile to me." He puffed up his cheek a little and tapped his pen against the table. It's a cheap ball pen, the kind that you can buy everywhere for a dollar- Sometimes my ADHD really gets out of control quickly. I shook my head, and wrote down the assignments for the night on my planner.

As I packed up my backpack for the next class, (I guess Calculus wasn't that bad), Percy leaned in just a bit closer and whispered to me, "just admit that you missed me for my looks already." When I look back and up and tried to snap at him, he's already by the door, waving at me as I tried to catch up. I was supposed to, after all, to be his guide in the high school, not the other way around.

  
  



	4. Greeks and Geeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Perseus and Annabeth become acquaintances, or dare I say, friends.

**“Do you think the universe fights for souls to be together?**  
Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.”   
― [Emery Allen](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7467647.Emery_Allen)

**Wonderwall**

**Chapter 4-Greeks and Geeks**

"You didn't tell me you were going to be transferred here." I said, gesturing at the swarm of excited students chattering everywhere.

"Uh-huh." He answered offhandedly, raising an eyebrow as he looked around mildly interested. I hated how he was not even trying to pay attention to me-it's not like he's never seen the first day of a new school year before.

"And...?" I prompted him to elaborate as I guided us to first floor for Latin IV. I would have chosen Greek, but apparently it's not popular enough to be included in the school curriculum. And since I have more of an affinity for Latin over French or Spanish, I chose the dead language over the others. Apparently Percy is in the class, too.

"Well. To be honest, it was rather impromptu." He smirked at this, enjoying my annoyed expression. "I didn't know about it until last month, when my family moved to New York. And there's so many schools around here, so..."

"But you knew you would go here when you met me." I accused, but he waved me off. I would have felt bad for pushing the guy so hard the second time I met him, and it might not be polite enough to do that to a new kid, but hey, I'm Annabeth Chase, and curiosity is my middle name. Plus, he has the air of familiarity around him that made it so easy to talk and chat with him.

"So? Does that make a difference? I'm here now." He said, grinning at a few girls that we passed by who were staring at him. "You missed me."

Huffing, I gripped the strip of my backpack tighter, but didn't say anything. Holding my tongue might be wise right now, no point to argue over something we've been through a billion times already.

Suffering just a little bit more of the uncomfortable silence, we've finally reached the World Language Department and I promptly entered the newly furnished Latin room, where Mr. Lubben was greeting everyone with an unusual enthusiasm.

"Salve, Annabeth, quid agis hodie?" Mr. Lubben asked how I was doing as I stepped into the room.

"Bene! Et vos?"  _Good, and you?_ I replied, hoping to go around him and into the room already. But of course, that was when he noticed Percy.

"Annabeth, quis est hic?" He asked, I was going to introduce Percy, but he already beat me to it.

"Mihi nomen eat Percy Jackson. Nuper translata sum Goode et Annabeth est author ostendens me classes." He responded smoothly and my jaw went slack. I didn't know that he was so fluent in Latin-what can't he do? All I caught was short phrases and words like "my name is", "transfer" and "classes".

Apparently, Percy's ability to speak fluent latin merely made Mr. Lubben all the more excited, and he started the day off commenting how everyone should have practiced Latin the whole summer like Percy so obviously did, as the boy smirked and other people looked at him with reverence. What a Seaweed Brain.

We went through some simple phrases from previous years and did a small review on cultural stuff that we covered last year, which includes Rome and the old Europe during Renaissance and the Enlightenment and whatnot. And also did a quick runthrough of the Roman gods. I could have sworn Percy's smile was so big his face could have split open when Mr. Lubben mentioned Neptune. Personally, I prefer Minerva a lot more-she's wise, a crafter, and she doesn't take crap from anyone.

It was forever until the bell ring, but when it did, I dragged him to our next classes-Literature B (I hate that class with a burning passion), Study Hall (It was surprisingly uneventful, except my friends Tracy and Will are there) and Chemistry (guess who's my new lab partner?), and then thankfully, it's lunch time.

I always get insanely hungry by lunchtime during school days. It's quite true that high school drains everyone mentally and emotionally.

* * *

Being the nice person I was, I awkwardly invited Percy to sit with me and my friends for lunch, in which he agreed after doing a 360 inspection of the cafeteria and wrinkled his nose.

"Cafeteria not good enough for you?" I teased, getting into the lunch line.

"How do you even eat in this place?" He complained, "There's people... Everywhere, and loud, and noisy. And..." He inspected his tray, "How can you even call this food? It's like... Grass on a brick-like bun."

I laughed at his quite unfortunately accurate description of the lunch. "This is high school, of course there is going to be people around." I rolled my eyes at his disgusted expression directed at his food. "And what, haven't you eaten in a high school cafeteria before? I've heard the food situation is pretty universal."

He bit his lip a bit and puffed out his cheeks. "Well, I, uh, went to a private school. Yeah." His eyes were wandering and looking at anywhere but me.

"Sure..." I said, suspecting that he was spinning a giant web of lies at me, but I decided to leave it at that.

I approach to my usual table, where I always share it with Katie, Tracey, Will... And Luke last year. Guess there's only going to be four of us originals left this year. There's no way Luke can come back this year anyway-I'll make sure of that.

"Hey guys, you don't mind if Percy's sitting here with us, right? He's new and all, and-" I don't know how to continue the introduction while everyone was staring at me so intently. Will was raising one of his eyebrows. I shot him a look.

"Uh, we don't mind! Of course not!" Katie said, looking between us. "Here, you can drag a chair from the table next to us." She said and both of us settled in the circle. I kind of feel bad bringing Percy unannounced, it has always been us four together since Luke left. Even Katie didn't bring her transfer students with her.

After Percy settled in, he cleared his throat and introduced himself. A nod from Tracy and Will gave him the permission to stay, for now.

It was a bit of an awkward silence before Will spoke icily at Percy, "So uh, Perseus," He began, fixing his glare at him. An alarmed expression flitted across Percy's face before he fix Will with an equally intense glare, "Yes, Will Solace?" I groaned internally-sometimes Will can act as a very, very overbearing older brother, but I am grateful that he's always watching over me.

Tracy and Katie just looked at me, confused that Percy already knew Will's full name. I shook my head slightly, I didn't tell him that. Maybe they already met each other already or Percy could have picked up Will's name from study hall-anyhow, the two boys were off to a very obvious bad start.

Will bit his lip a bit, as if he was suddenly nervous. I looked to Percy, who clenched his jaw slightly. Shooting a small look to Tracy, Will pressed on, "How'd you meet Annabeth? Why are you here?" Of course. Everyone but Tracy knew that Will had a crush on her, for forever. In order to save his pride, he couldn't possibly back down now.

This is not how I envisioned my lunch time to be today. I could nearly feel the awkward tension rolling off between the two boys as they exchange silent threats through their eyes. Not long after, Will slouched a bit in his seat, defeated.

"We will talk about this later." Percy said to him, before looking directly at me. I was quite confused, but didn't press on. Will gave a slight nod, but I could still see his anger in his eyes. Things are definitely not going to be smooth between the two boys.

I tried to smile apologetically at Tracy and Katie, who were even more confused than I am. Thankfully, Katie started to talk about how ridiculous her Lit B teacher was with Tracy and I shot her a grateful glance. Whatever is happening, Will has a whole lot of explaining to do.

And as for this Perseus Jackson? I am adamant to break through his mysterious facade.

**Haha, drop a comment so I don't forget to post the next chapter in a bit!**


	5. Passing Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Percy gets introduced to Goode High School.

"With your ear to a seashell  
You can hear the waves in underwater caves  
As if you actually were inside a saltwater room"

~Saltwater Room by Owl City

**Wonderwall**

**Chapter 5: Passing Colors**

"I can't believe that we have to do all the derivative problems AND the AP Problem Set for Calculus this weekend." Katie grumbled and complained as she plopped down on her chair.

"I know, it's unbelievable." I said, sighing. I actually don't know how I will survive this whole year of torture.

"Hey," Katie suddenly whispered, looking around the room. Being the first period, the students have the option to get into the classroom earlier than the time it starts, so being the overachievers, we settled into our seats for class before everyone else arrived.

"What." I whispered back, despite there being no one in the classroom.

"What's up with you and that new kid? I still haven't really got a chance to talk to you about him yet. Alone." Katie added.

"Nothing. He's just a transfer. You guys don't mind that I brought him over for lunch yesterday, right?"

Katie bit her lip. "We don't mind. But Will... I don't even know what's up with him. He was pretty worried about you. Something about Percy being a character..."

"Don't worry," I said, trying to reassure my best friend. "He's an okay kid, quite exceptional though, academic wise."

"Think you finally found an opponent worthy of your time?"

"Well," I pretend to think, "if only he isn't such a Seaweed Brain."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "If you say so. We're just pretty worried about you since last year because of, you know."

"Yeah." I nodded, reluctant to think back and walk through my memories. "So how are your two transfer kids?"

Katie scoffed. "Both of them are Band Geeks. Sent them to the other geeks and they seem to be pretty happy there, so I left them with their comrades." One of the biggest ongoing rivalries in my school is between the Band Geeks and the Orchestra Dorks. It started out as a joke, but evolved into a full-fledged rivalry. As a dork, Katie is obligated to show distaste towards the geeks.

"Oh well, at least you have one less job to do."

* * *

"Class, as I have stated yesterday, Chemistry AP is an extremely intensive course that requires multiple labs and experiments for every unit. As a warm-up for the year and to recover the materials covered last year, we are going to do a titration today." My chemistry teacher said as he wandered around the lab, pulling out different equipments.

I have copies of the lab up here on the counter, and you are to partner with the person I have assigned you yesterday, except for Rachel Dare, who is allowed to triple up with whichever group she wishes to. Get the equipment and mass out the indicator, you have 45 minutes left of the class period to complete the exercise."

Since my friend poor Rachel landed with no partner in the class of 21 students, (of course the random number generator would leave her out-she has the worst luck of us all) I signaled to her that I am willing to have her included in my lab group.

"Thanks so much, Annabeth." She said as I started to take out the equipment.

"Dude, you're fine. What are friends for?" I said, as my actual chemistry partner, Percy Freaking Jackson, came to us.

"Annabeth, do you know what we have to do here? I have absolutely no idea-"

I gave an exasperated sigh and said, "Aren't you Mr. Perfect who can apparently do any subject flawlessly?"

"I didn't say that! You're the Wise Girl here." He argued.

I shoved the Materials and Methods list to him. "Just gather the supplies and chemicals stuff we need. Other people should also be doing that. Follow one of them or something."

Percy took the list and blow a few strands of his hair away from his sea green eyes. He muttered something along the lines of "titration wasn't a part of the underwater ancient Greek curriculum", which basically doesn't make any sense at all to me. Maybe he had a fear of chemicals or something. Why he took Chem AP is completely beyond me.

"He's pretty cute." Rachel commented, jolting me out of my semi-trance. Staring at his back, I nearly agreed with "Yes he is" but held my tongue at the last minute.

"It's sort of weird." She continued, "it's like, normally when a guy is cute, they radiate this sort of shy aura and you just want to say something to make them open up. But this guy-he had this different kind of aura that just calls out to everyone, but intimidating at the same time."

"Rach, no offense, but are you okay?" She must have a really late night up doing homework or something. She wasn't making any sense.

"I'm fine. But don't you feel it? No one I know feels so powerful and alluring, not even that one president who visited our school a couple years back." I shrugged, and Rachel pouted. I brushed off her thoughts-most of the time the girl is too crazy for her own good.

"You're just lucky that you know him well." She said, and I scoffed. I knew the guy for a total of two days!

"Know who well?" A voice that starts to grow familiar rang out from behind me.

"Perseus!" I yelped and he winced a little, "you startled me!"

"Sorry!" He put the chemicals he collected onto the counter as a poured some into the burrett. "It's not my fault that you are more easily startled than a freaking sea star." He muttered. I decided to not question him on his choice of insults.

The rest of the period was beyond awkward. Rachel kept glancing weirdly at Percy, Percy sat hopelessly at my side trying to figure out the magnetic stir plate, and me trying to finish the three trials of titrations needed for the lab.

* * *

"What's that?" Percy whispered to me in Study Hall when I pulled out my most current blueprints for the school.

"Nothing." I replied, not paying much attention. The school gave me a rather tight deadline.

"Come on, seriously? I know it's something. It looks like, um, squares and semicir-"

"It's a blueprint." I interrupted him to stop his awful attempts at guessing.

"For what?"

"A blueprint is a model for desig-"

"I know what a blue print is. I'm that that stupid, despite what Athena thinks. It's a blueprint for what construction?"

"The school." I gave him a curt reply. I needed to work on it as much as I could, so chit chatting wouldn't be an option.

"Anna, is he bothering you?" Will whispered to me from the row in front of me. "What is he doing here anyway?"

"Will!" Tracy exclaimed, smacking him upside the head, "That was rude!"

"I don't care. I'm just looking out for Annabeth."

I flushed, trying to say something but no words came out of my mouth.

"I'm sure she appreciates it." Percy replied coldly, "Right now is not the time, Solace. We can settle whatever later."

Will lost the staring contest again, Tracy went to comfort him more, Percy huffed and puffed, and I went back to my blueprints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AloneAndFree_CreatingMyself asked for an update, so here it is. It's funny because I have 70k+ words written out already for the story, but I just keep forgetting to update... I guess a little nudge here and there helps?


	6. Small Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Annabeth get acquainted with each other.

**There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back**  
Well tell her that I miss our little talks  
Soon it will be over and buried with our past  
We used to play outside when we were young  
And full of life and full of love.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Small Talks**

**I need a beta to read over/edit my work. If anyone's interested, please PM me for more info.**

Thank god there's a Starbucks right across the street from one of the school gates-sometimes I just need a place like that to sit, think, get a drink, and do nothing else. You see, I am not that big of a coffee person-or at least I wasn't.

Despite my constant tiredness (brought by school and life), I don't drink coffee all that often because of the adverse side effects caffeine usually has on me. I was diagnosed with slight ADHD while I was little, and by default, too much caffeine is never that good for my system.

But everything more or less changed throughout the summer. You see, in my family, it consists of my always-on-a-business-trip dad, my stepmom Helen, and my two half-siblings. The thing is, while my dad was away to Europe during the summer for some conference, Helen brought the twins to her parents' house in San Fran for the entire time. So of course, that let me with nothing to do except for staying up late every night with my blueprints and architectural designs.

It was another few weeks before I decided that Starbucks is actually an amazing environment for my brainstorming, and that's when I start drinking coffee.

* * *

I crossed the busy road of New York and lined up by the cashier. I don't have a phone to text anyone or kill time, (because my father insisted that there is no need for one) so I just settled on reading the Odyssey. It was torture. Not the contents, mind you, but the fact that all the English words are floating around my mind and making no sense at all whatsoever.

"Can I help you?" A voice rang out.

I was a little flustered as I realized that it's my turn to order. I shoved my copy into my backpack.

"Um yeah, sorry. I would like a pumpkin spice latte, decaf, please." I stuttered out as the guy punched in my order.

The cashier, a blond twenty something with blue eyes, flashed a grin at me. I could have sworn that I've never seen him around before, but he gave out this air of familiar power. If the lights weren't so bright in the coffee shop, I could have sworn that he is glowing. In sort of a way, he has a scary resemblance to my friend, Will Solace. If Will didn't tell me that he has no living relatives other than his mother, then I could have sworn that they are related.

"Hey miss, may I take your name, please?"

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah. I'm Annabeth." I replied as he sharpies my name on.

"Annabeth, huh? My cousin told me a whole lot about you."

"...Your cousin?" I gave him a skeptical look. I wasn't aware that any of my friends have a cousin! I passed the cashier a ten dollar bill and said, "And who would that be?"

"That would be me." A familiar voice rang out behind me, skipping a few annoyed customers standing in the line waiting for me to finish buying the coffee. Tousled black hair, sea green eyes-why am I not surprised? Everything that happens to me lately seems to revolve around the boy anyways.

"Percy? What are you doing here?" I asked, not bothering to cover my surprise.

"Well, I'm just here to visit my dear cousin  _Fred_ ," he paused and glared at the cashier as Fred chuckled at something that I didn't caught, "and maybe get a coffee on my way home."

"Fred, huh?" I turned back and the blond guy gave me a 'whatever' shrug and handed my receipt as Percy shook his head and gestured me to follow him away to sit in a corner.

"Aren't you going to order something?" I asked.

"Um, maybe not now. Not when  _Fred_ 's the one handling everything." He sighed. He mumbled something along the lines of "Apollo is stupid", but I brushed it off. No need to stick my head to where it doesn't belong.

"So... You talked about me, huh?" I teased him. Normally, I wouldn't have said anything so bold face to face with a guy, but Percy sends out an easygoing vibe, and it made it all the more easier to talk to him.

"Um, well, you were the one who showed me around the first day."

"Huh." I commented, giving him a 'go on' gesture as I continued to enjoy his uncomfortableness.

"And well, Fred swung by my house the first day since he's doing his undergrad in NYC, so... yeah." He finished, lamely, hands fidgeting his shirt.

"Okay. Guess wittle Percy has to tell his big brother what happened in school, huh?" I teased him.

He put out his hands defensively. "A-Fred's not my 'big brother'! He just... He's just family." Percy scowled as I decided to drop my teasing. It was amusing while it lasted.

"So," I started, leading the conversation to nowhere in particular, "How's school?"

"Did you seriously just ask me that?"

"Um, yeah. It's an attempt at a conversation. Just go with it." I said, slightly embarrassed. I know, I know, I really don't have a life when I fall back on the default, stupid questions to just keep a conversation going, but whatever.

"Goode's weird." He stated, after a while.

"Huh. How so?" I prompted.

"It's like, kids don't really have any respect for the teachers, and they don't really value education at all. And they don't hold a whole lot of responsibility..."

I just stared at him after he replied, not sure what to say about it.

"Your private school must be really strict, then." I offered.

"Huh?" He asked, pulled out from the thought.

"Your old school. Didn't you go to a private school before?"

"Oh, yeah, um, that." He stuttered. "I had no freedom there. But here, it's like you can do anything you want and still get away with it."

I nodded, and we fell into a kind of awkward silence.

"So, you move around a lot?" I asked after sipping some of my coffee.

"Me? Well, you can say that. I've been in a couple of countries."

"So are you from here?" I asked. He doesn't really have any sort of a strong accent. But I think he's from the U.S. I would have heard the difference if he were from any other countries.

"You mean New York? I suppose you can say so... But my family's from Greece, if that counts as anything." He said.

I nodded slightly. I glanced at him, but none of his features really screamed "Greek!" at me.

"Your cousin doesn't really look like you." I observed. The two doesn't even look related at all.

"Yeah. He took after his mom. His dad and my dad are brothers, so yeah." He said. I was interested, though.

"Oh? Is his dad also in the city?"

"Yeah. He is. His dad adores Broadway. He's a theater major." Percy said, and it thundered loudly in the nearby skies. I was not surprised-after all, it was the storming season. I just hope that I can get home before I am drenched.

Percy chuckled at what he just said, and shook his head. "Whatever. Do you live really far? It's going to start raining soon, and you should get home before then."

I nodded, grabbed my backpack and stood up. Percy stood up with me. "How about you?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

"I'm just gonna stay and maybe get myself something too, it's nice talking to you." I nodded, and was about to give Fred a bye just to be polite when I realized the dude wasn't there anymore.

Percy caught my glance and looked at the direction, too. "Oh, he must have just gotten off his shift, I guess." He offered me an explanation and I took it. I walked to the door, pushed it open, and stopped briefly to turn around and say a quick good bye.

"Okay, I'll be going now, see ya tomorrow?" I asked, only to realize that Percy's already long gone.


End file.
